Saint Karyl Trail
by Mattwho81
Summary: The Saint Karyl Trail, the setting for the adventures of the Storm Heralds Chapter. Here are my background notes for the various worlds located in my stories.


**The Saint Karyl Trail**

_Foreword: When I came to write my adventures the first thing I did was to draw up a map of the local region. An exercise that really helped place the story in a context and sparked so many other ideas for further stories. Over time I came to see this region as being akin to the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII, an oft overlooked struggle in a wider war but one utterly essential and as dangerous as any other conflict. Those who fought in it may not be lauded by the history book but they were no less brave than those at the front._

_What you will find here are the background descriptions for all the worlds I have written stories for._

_The completed image can be seen on: Deviantart: user _mattwho81

…

The Saint Karyl Trail is a contra-flowing warp route that lies on the border of Segmentum's Tempestus and Solar. Founded five thousand years ago by the venerable Saint Karyl, who led the war-weary faithful away from the terrible in-fighting of the Nova Terra Interregnum. The warp route has long been a Pilgrim Trail for those seeking to pass between Terra and Ophelia VII and billions of faithful souls pass through the route each year. This thin ribbon of Imperial worlds lies surrounded by darkness and danger, hostile Xenos races and Traitor raiding fleets. Yet the Imperial forces fight to hold the line, meeting each threat with courage and steel.

Never has this been more important, for as the tides of darkness rise to engulf the Imperium the few stable warp routes grow ever more critical. As more sectors fall into silence the burden of shipping passing through the Saint Karyl Trail grows exponentially. Endless fleets of warships, cargo barges and fuel tankers flow through the warp route, taking desperately needed materials to the forges of the Core worlds and troops to the distant wars. Many fear should the Saint Karyl Trail ever fall the Imperium might well find its southern third cut off entirely.

Serrati Stellas:

A knot of warp-squalls, gravitic anomalies and iconic disturbances. This region is a haven for pirates, Orks and slavers. No amount of patrolling has managed to supress the threats that arise from this turbulent expanse. The Imperium has grown used to beating back the raids and Waaaghs that come to plague them and a curious sense of complacency has grown regarding the threat. Many assume that the Imperium will always triumph over the reavers and Orks and find the idea of a larger threat arising to be laughable. An attitude those who must fight them back do not share.

Tectum:

Mightiest and most powerful hive world in the Sector, Tectum sit at the confluence of four warp routes and is the unrivalled industrial, mercantile and political heart of the region. The systems has no inhabitable planets but is dominated by two gas giants, whose hundreds of moons support a population of over fifty billion. Founded during the pilgrimages of Saint Karyl by the legendary Admiral Themistocles Greater Tectum and its smaller cousin Lesser Tectum have been the heart of Imperial rule in the region for five thousand years.

Here resides the largest fleet base in the Trail and the docks are kept constantly busy refitting and servicing the needs of Battlefleet Karyl. Whole generations of families are raised to service the needs of the fleet from the dockyards workers and supply shuttle operators to the endless lines of officers filing into the naval academies and flight schools. The ruling class is formed of a network of aristocratic households, the 'Old-blood families' who bicker and compete for dominance and have a presence in every imperial institution, large or small. Dominating trade and industry it is no surprise that Tectum is the sector capital and for thousands of years has been the lynchpin of imperial strategy for the entire St Karyl Trail.

Dulcis:

Centred around a wandering star the Dulcis system is nothing more than a mass of floating asteroids. Thrown from the gravitic anomalies of the Serrati Stellas, this star is turbulent and unstable and whatever planets it once boasted have long since been smashed to rubble. As such the vast mineral wealth of this system is exposed directly to hard vacuum, a bounty of raw material that Imperial free captains eagerly harvest. Millions of asteroids have been harvested across the centuries yet even this has barely scratched the surface of the wealth that lies hidden here. Mining ships large and small roam the system and the only permanent Imperial presence is little more than a heavily fortified refinery station.

Sadly this bounty comes at a price, for the system is as deadly as it wealthy. Drifting rocks crush the unwary, disputes between miners flare up while lethal radiation and gravitic storms plague mining ships. Yet worst of all are the infestations of Orks that dwell here, building their foul Roks and more dangerous warships. Mining vessels find themselves under constant attack and operating here requires a mix of cunning and boldness few can sustain for long.

Sadly the coming of the Noctis Aeterna spelt disaster for the inhabitants of this system. Cut off from support and unable to flee the Imperial population, such as it was, was swiftly overrun by rampaging Orks. Repeated attempts to sweep the system clean have been conducted and each one declared a success but every time the Orks return, infesting the system like weeds. The battle to reclaim the system has raged for over a decade and does not look likely to end anytime soon.

Astu:

An emerald gas-giant, this world is famed for the productivity of its cloud-scoops mining platforms and the size of the agri-domes that cover its many moons. Little does anybody know but this system harbours a nexus to the Eldar Webway, large enough to admit Eldar capital ships. This nexus has allowed that degenerate race access to the heart of the saint Karyl Trail. The Craftworld Eldar use the gate for their own enigmatic purposes, but to their dark kin it is an excellent route to snatch slaves and innocent souls. The Dark Eldar are careful never to overuse the gate, lest the Imperium suspects its presence, but on infrequent occasions they will slip through and launch raids on nearby systems and passing ships. To the peoples on nearby worlds these raiders are fearful nightmares, dark shadows that slip past every patrol and whisk away thousands of innocents, never to be heard from again.

Sacellum:

Ancient and holy cathedrals dominate the cities of Sacellum and it is rightly considered the holiest shrine world between Terra and Opheilla VII. Long ago Sacellum was the throne of the Tyrant Cardinal Achilou who ruled over the sector with an Iron fist, until the coming of the popular hero Sebastian Thor overthrew the Ecclesiarchy on Terra. In an uncharacteristic display of wisdom Achilou bent the knee before the resurgent High Lords and was allowed to live out his days in the palaces of Terra, much to the outrage of the billions of people he had oppressed.

Since then Sacellum has diminished in wealth and importance. Its cities are drab and fading affairs, their prosperity utterly dependent upon the trade of passing pilgrims. To this end what little wealth is left on the planet is lavished upon the cathedrals, keeping their glory shining while the masses eke out lives of squalor around their foundations. The lands between cities are arid and waterless, the cities having claimed every source of fresh water. For the impoverished masses leaving the cities is impossible so the only chance for a better life is to sell themselves to the Priesthood, as servants, guards and concubines.

In this environment it was inevitable that criminal cartels arose among the starving masses, growing wealthy on smuggled goods, and wanton vices. Known as the Vettia this loose alliance of cartels keep the Imperial Governor as puppet lord while they reap the wages of sin. Sacellum has become a tainted paradise for the wealthy and they will travel thousands of lightyears to taste its dark fruits. While soaring cathedrals rise high, beacons of piety and virtue, the dark underbelly of this world fuels the vices of any with the coin to spare.

Pascum:

A lush agri-world with an ancient caste-based civilisation. It is one of those rare worlds that pre-dates the formation of the Imperium, surviving the horrors of the Age of Strife and submitting to the rule of Terra willingly. They achieved this by adopting a culture of strict genetic control over the population, where every baby is meticulously planned by genic councils and mutations are aborted before birth. Proudly do the people claim to be the only Imperial world in the sector where the number of mutants tolerated to exist is zero.

Genealogy and hereditary breeding are all important to this society. Every marriage is carefully pre-arranged by the matriarchs, the life-roles of the resulting children are chosen for them at birth and then they are raised to fulfil that role alone. Strict castes divisions are enforced on all, without exception or favour and not even the richest and most powerful soul can dream of marrying outside the partnerships ordained for them. Even the criminals and prostitutes of the lowest orders are a carefully managed caste unto themselves, as close knit and self-contained a community as any other. A mighty lord can no more join the impoverished masses than a criminal can walk into the palaces of the rich.

One of the primary exports of Pascum is slaves and their Flesh-Markets are famed across two Segmentums for the superior quality of their stock. This not for crude brute labour or servitor stock, which can be found on any world without crossing many light-years but for affluent customers with refined requirements. Whether one desires obedient household servants, statuesque guards or the most beautiful and nubile of concubines Pascum can provide for any need. Indeed many Imperial nobles send envoys to purchase the finest slaves for their personal hankerings and the factors are eager to satisfy their customers, no matter how base or sordid.

In such a strict and repressive society there is but one way to break out of one's assigned role and that is to go off-world. Many enlist in merchant and naval service, but by far the easiest way is to join the Imperial Guard. Foundings are uncommonly frequent for such a small world and few other guardsmen are so eager to enlist. These regiments have garnered a proud legacy, not least for their officer's eagerness to spend the lives of their men to achieve even the smallest objective.

Cibus:

A fertile agri-world sitting athwart the Pilgrim Route that runs through the Saint Karyl Trail. This planet is notable only for being utterly unremarkable. It has witnessed no significant battles and has no specialised industries nor birthed any famous historical figures. The planet is known to most Imperial citizens only in reference to the high-quality of its beers and other alcoholic beverages.

Lujan II:

A lush ocean world sitting on the pilgrim trail some fifty light-years from Tectum. This world is a vital resupply point for Pilgrim ship before pressing on to Sacellum and deeper into Segmentum Tempestus. The slowly-turning planet is banded by a raging tempest that sits eternally on the terminus and is viewed with superstitious reverence by the locals. Lujan II is also the home of a Space Marine Chapter, the Storm Heralds, whose practices of proselytising to the masses have earned them the ire of the Ecclesiarchy and many others in the corridors of power.

Glaeba:

A fertile Agri-world with a rich bio-diversity that feeds the hungry masses of Tectum, this world is in many ways a rural paradise with majestic oceans and soaring mountains. However this garden hides a snake as it lies near to the Serrati Stella and as such is subjected to periodic raids from slavers and Orks. Many embryonic Waaaghs have been defeated across the millennia and the survivors of these still linger in the mountain chains. A sizeable Imperial Guard garrison is kept on this world, routinely rotated through various regiments so they can each gain valuable experience fighting Orks that will serve them well on other fronts.

Sucaris:

Once a shining jewel of imperial civilisation this world was renowned as a seat of scholarship and culture, with glorious centres dedicated to poetry, philosophy, theatre and art. During the Age of Apostasy three famous scholars stood against the Tyrant cardinal of Sacellum and they were burned at the stake, along with their whole households. In recognition of their sacrifice the Reformist Ecclesiarch Sebastian Thor commended their dedication to their art and commanded the entire planet to devote itself to study and education.

Even to this day the Dreaming Spires of Sucaris remain the foremost bastions of learning for a thousand light-years in any direction, lorded over by the foremost minds of the age and boasting endless miles of data-stacks and their libraries house the rarest tomes of knowledge on countless subjects. Always the scholars have sought to preserve the ancient lore handed down to them from antiquity, without deviation, embellishment. Grey-face professor drill young minds with the same lessons their ancestors taught and ruthlessly stamp down on any trace of originality or free-thought.

If Sacellum is the Saint Karyl's spiritual soul and Tectum its beating heart, then Sucaris is its secular mind. Each of the seven cities is built around a core of educational precincts, lecture halls and library stacks. The surrounding sprawls of industrial blocks and urban slums are considered mere afterthoughts by the ruling elite. The teeming millions living in squalor held nothing more than a support mechanism to free the scholars from worrying about daily concerns.

Yet sadly in these dark times the demand for learning and reason has been lost to the tide of horror and zealotry that sweeps the stars. Few come to study anymore and those that do spend more time seeking a hedonistic escape in the local bars and brothels than in the acquisition of wisdom. This has not gone unnoticed by either the aged professors nor the local populace. Many whisper that the end times have come, that the God-Emperor has turned his face from humanity and that the age of the Dark Gods looms. Hidden cults now lurk among the endless archives, just waiting for a moment to strike while those who remain loyal do their best to preserve their knowledge, in the desperate hope that one day mankind might remember the value of such lore.

Almanium:

A fertile agri-world with a modest population, this world's true value lies in its strategic position on the divergent warp route leading to the perilous frontiers of the Heraculan Deeps. With endless demands for reinforcement and supply coming from the borderlands the munitorum has created a vast series of supply posts and depots. These service the multitude of regiments and fleets that sail to fight the enemies of mankind and so great is this need that an entire continent has been given over to the task. Still the demands for aid only ever increase and the Imperium's requisitions consume more land with every year. Some natives fear that in as little as another century the entire world will be given over to the munitorum. Small, yet persistent, secessionist movements have begun to spring up among the common folk and threaten this planet's place as an emperor fearing world.

PQ-385-47j:

A penal world sitting perilously close to the Serrati Stellas and thus under constant threat of Ork attacks and pirate raids for slaves. This arid world has for millennia been the dumping ground for the Segmentum's most vicious and sadistic criminals, those who crimes are so terrible that they cannot be simply committed to servitor processing and forgotten about. Occasionally the Imperium must be seen to be punishing the wicked and so it is to this world they send the condemned. Many Imperial citizens deem that servitor processing would have been the kinder fate.

Dumped on the surface the condemned must learn to obey the camp guards or be cast out into the scorched deserts that cover the world. Few would willingly tempt such a fate for the lands are infertile and the small seas too briny to drink and even should the criminal not die of exposure they would surely be caught by the roving cannibal clans, who are themselves descendants of previous criminals. This world has only one worthwhile feature, its value as a recruiting ground for the Imperial Guard and the recruiters are the only real Imperial presence, trading firearms with the cannibal tribes for the blood of their sons. Still these wretches have no sense of loyalty or discipline and every regiment raised is designated a Penal Legion from inception.

Fodina:

A mining world sitting near to the Forgeworld Crux Lapis this planet is a rich source of Promethium fuel. An arid and dusty planet, mostly uninhabitable save for small oasis-cities that drill endlessly for the 'Black-gold' of Fodina. This system lies at a key nexus leading to the lost worlds of the Xeno Psybrid nest and has such has seen numerous battles to drive back the insidious alien menace. Repeated petitions to convert Fodina into a Fortress-world have been raised in the corridors of power but all have been vetoed by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The planet's petrochemical wealth is deemed too valuable to forfeit and as such it remains primarily a mining world.

Trux:

A primitive jungle world dominated by perilous flora and monstrous mega-predators, where human life is brutal and short. Many scholars speculate that Trux may once have been a Knight world but if so then the Houses failed long before the coming of the Imperium. Leaving behind only ruins and mysteries to hint at their presence.

All traces of local technology are now extinct, save for that imported by the Imperium. The people of Trux live in flash-burned clearings, which have to be constantly hacked out. Surrounded on all sides by tangled jungle and mega-predators the people have domesticated several beasts of burden. These tame Megasaurs have the size and the strength to fend off the vicious predators of the jungle and their meat is highly prized as a delicacy for the richest folk across the sector.

Life on Trux is a daily struggle for survival where only the strongest and boldest sons live to manhood beneath the endless canopy. As such this world has become a secondary recruiting world for the Storm Heralds Space Marines. The Astartes come once a generation to claim the boldest of their sons, much valuing their feral strength and ferocity. Indeed many sons of Trux have gone on to serve in the Chapter, particularly in their assault companies, though few ever reach high office. The Storm Heralds regard Trux as a good source of savage strength but deem the recruits useful for their sword arms more than their leadership skills. The ranks of Captains are overwhelming weighted in favour of Lujanites and no Truxian has ever held the post of Chapter Master.

Suna:

A world that teeters on the brink of sacrilege. At first appearance this seems to be a pleasant agri-world dominated by endless plains and shallow oceans. The people have a curious aversion to permanent settlements, preferring to live in nomadic harvest-trains that roam eternally. However this idyllic demeanour hides the truth that the people are deeply superstitious and mystical, their culture being riddled with witch doctors, mediums and soothsayers. The root cause of this mystical streak is that Suna lies perilously close to the nest of the Xeno Psybrids and as such is heavily raided by the Psionic race. The people cling to anything that can hold back the alien Psykers, embracing charms, totems and wards to fend off mental enslavement, some of which might even work.

The people live in eternal fear of the Psybrids and so mysticism has become ingrained in their culture, the bone-rattlers becoming the leaders of the society. The Adepta Soroitas has established a mobile convent to indoctrinate the populace to the proper worship of the God-emperor and they have made some small progress, but even then the Imperial Faith has only become just one more cult to the people. A situation that has caused no little ire in the halls of power, but so long as the planet keeps paying its tithes in goods and men, the Imperium is content to turn a blind eye. An attitude not shared by the Ordo Hereticus, who keep an extremely close eye on the people, just waiting for any pretext to fall upon the planet in blood and fire.

Odiosis:

An agri-world covered with vast impenetrable forests on the very edge of Imperial space, dangerously near to the dreaded Xeno race known as Psybrids. The people of this world have developed a fierce survivalist attitude and are ruthlessly pragmatic in their behaviour. Contact with the wider Imperium is limited to the once a decade tithe ships that sweep down to harvest the lumbar of the forests and the blood of their sons. Regiments raised from this world are notoriously fierce in combat but experience has shown that they must have officers and commissars trained on other worlds, as the Guardsmen have little to no loyalty to the Imperium. Several times these regiments have been swept up in shameful rebellions against the rightful rule of the Emperor and as such these Guardsmen are distrusted and scorned by many, treated as cannon fodder by the Lords Militant.

Camollum:

A harsh mountainous world, with small fertile regions dotted between long chains of uplands. Being close to Crux Lapis this planet was settled long ago as a Mechanicus domain but was lost to the Imperium when a minor warp squall erupted in 650.M41. The world was considered utterly lost until 952.M41 when the Warp squall blew out and Imperial scouts were dispatched to investigate.

What long range observations found was a lost human culture, one which was deeply confused about its history and origin. The planet possessed only pre-spaceflight technologies, limited mostly to primitive voxs, chemically propelled projectile weapons and crude fossil fuelled vehicles and aircraft. The most dangerous weapons presented were a collection of low-yield Atomonic bombs, mounted on crude rockets which could barely reach orbit.

Culturally Camollum was divided into two belligerent blocs of nations. A theocratic Southern Concordance, who held the myth of an off-world origin as sacred writ and believed Terra to be a divine paradise. Set against them was a democratic Northern League, centred on the nation of Nordlund, who vehemently refuted this, fervently believing that humanity originated on Camollum and that there was no other life in the galaxy.

A proposal was set before the Senatorum Imperalis on Terra to dispatch a task force to conquer this world and claim three thousand years' worth of unpaid tithes. Unfortunately the issue became locked up in various sub-committees and evaluation boards in the depths of the Adminstratum and the order to invade was not issued for fifty years. In the meantime the Missionaria Galaxia dispatched agents masquerading as indigenous preachers to begin the cultural conversion of the Camollum's native population. These missionaries found a warm reception in the Southern Concordance and began introducing prophecies about the return of a 'Sky-God' into the cultural zeitgeist. The Northern League however utterly rejected any such ideas and engaged their neighbour in a series of minor skirmishes and brushfire conflicts that led to a state of cold war between them.

Currently the Camollum is divided by a tense political struggle for supremacy, all the while being blissfully unaware that Imperial forces are gathering to invade their world and settle the matter firmly in Terra's favour.

Caminus:

An ancient mining world that dates back to the Nova Terra Interregnum and the foundation of the Saint Karyl Trail. This planet lies a mere handful of light-years from Crux Lapis and as such is a Mechanicus fief world, supplying giga-tonnes of raw material to its hungry forges. Ancient Forge-fanes litter the cities and there are whispers of ancient and terrible secrets stored within, kept by jealous Tech-Priests who refuse to be parted from their mysteries.

Camalis:

A world that strains the tolerance of the Imperium, covered in chemical swamps and toxic fogs that render the surface almost uninhabitable. Many are surprised to learn that life not only survives here but actually thrives amid the noxious glades and poisonous bogs, perfectly adapted insects and amphibian creatures becoming the dominate life forms on the planet. Over the course of millennia pogroms of genic adaptation and natural selection resulted in a race of abhumans; clammy-skinned albinos with webbed hands and feet who could breathe the toxic atmosphere without qualm.

Were the planet not so rich in rare chemicals and moulds with medicinal properties it is likely the High Lords would have sent a fleet to enact a genic cleansing upon the planet. Instead the bureaucrats of Terra found a way to make it someone else's problem, by making the populace beholden to the nearby Mechanicus forge world. The tech-priests not caring about where their resources come from nor how deformed their labourers were. No Guard regiments have ever been raised here, instead their boldest sons join the ranks of the Skitarii, where cybernetic implants are so common that any cosmetic differences are soon obliterated.

Camulus:

A low-gravity world orbiting on the edge of its star's habitable zone, this planet has temperatures that would make a Valhallan shiver. Endless ice-flows dominated the planet from which rise chemical icicles, growing taller than trees in the low gravity. Many of these draw rich chemical elements from under the ice-flows and as such are mined by roaming clans in gigantic ice-crawlers. Thousands of years of mining have not depleted the riches of this world, indeed so fast do the icicles grow that often the problem is that the miners can't harvest them quickly enough.

Crux Lapis:

A sovereign Mechanicus Dominion this planet is the only fully-fledged Forge World in the sector. It was founded originally as a mining outpost but when the nearby Knight world was discovered the Fabricator-General declared that the outpost would be expanded to true Forge World status. Despite being designated a tertiary-minoris Forge by the standards of Mars, Crux Lapis remains the sole source of the rarest and most exotic technologies in local space.

This Forgeworld is geologically unique for it is a single vacuum formed geode the size of a small moon, with an impure adamantium crust several miles thick and an interior filled with the rarest forms of crystal. These crystals have proved unrivalled for the production of potent laser weaponry, plasma distribution systems and the most advanced logic engines and cogitators. The exterior surface of Crux Lapis is covered in defence emplacements and starship dockyards but it is on the inner surface that the Mechanicus have built their Forges. Ancient gravitic generators and atmosphere processors make the interior liveable (by Martian standards) and were it not for the horizon soaring away overhead it would be easy to mistake it for the surface of any other world. Here vast foundries create the secret wonders known only to the Tech-Priests and they maintain vast nutrient pools to encourage the growth of the precious crystals Crux Lapis is famed for.

To protect the Forge World the Mars has assigned a demi-legion garrison of Titans from the Legio Astraman, nominally 26 engines of which 22 are currently functional. This garrison has stood for thousands of years and was commonly viewed as an inglorious posting; however since their home, Forgeworld Graia, was devastated by Waaagh Grimskull they have lost all contact with their brethren and become a separate Legio in all but name.

San Grael:

This world is the rarest of jewels in the galaxy, a fully formed and extant Knight World. Discovered during the voyages of Saint Karyl the ancient Houses were on the verge of failing and so eagerly joined the Imperium, becoming a Mechanicus aligned world, in name if not in practice. The lord of House Pardus rules this world as High King but his household co-exists with other Houses, each a proud and insular organisation. Houses Ursal, Glyfalcon, Tuskgor, Jacquar, Mammothus and Frostwyrm compete vehemently for glory, honour and position, for only with these can one earn new Knight Engines from the High King and his Mechanicus allies.

The planet itself is an icy wasteland, dotted with fertile rift-valleys, heated by magma drawn from the volatile core. Held in these isolated dens of life dwells a feudal society, maintaining a black-powder level society and giving fealty to the Knights as their noble overlords. Wealth flows from San Grael which is traded with the wider Imperium, granting the Knights a degree of independence the Mechanicus finds uncomfortable and is eager to quash.

Angle's Redoubt:

A mighty hive world in its own right this planet sits at the head of the Angle's Run Tributary. This branching of Warp route was discovered by the narcissistic Rogue Trader Roderic Angle, who first dared the unknown route. His voyage brought several virgin worlds into the Imperium and for this stunning achievement he was made governor of what was then a tiny unremarkable settlement. His first decree vainglorious being to rename his homeworld after himself.

Angle's Redoubt is the only safe and reliable access to these worlds and thus enjoys a complete monopoly on their resources. Using this bounty the people of Angle's Redoubt have built their planet up into a bastion of imperial might and industry with Hive cities rising from the polluted rad-wastes. The nobility of Angle's Redoubt have long harboured dreams of their home becoming the most important of worlds and seizing the title of sector capital. In this they are sadly deluded, because for all their industry and enterprise, they do not even come close to challenging the staggering productivity, influence and military importance of Tectum.

Angle's Landing:

The first world discovered by Rogue Trader Angle this agri world is noted for its high yield of solyent veridans. This planet was settled by a retired Imperial Guard battalion, the few victorious survivors of the Imperium's war against the Heretek cults of the outcast Forgeworld Retuvius. Scarred by brutal warfare against the technological nightmares of the Forsworn Magi the survivors developed crippling paranoia about technology and taught their descendants to shun any mechanisation in their lives. Today the planet is a rustic and pastoral world, where peasant farmers tend their crops and only Imperial envoys have any technology more advanced than blackpowder muskets.

Angle's Glory:

A stunningly beautiful agri world noted for its splendour and gentle climate, the discovery of this world was held to be the greatest achievement of Roderic Angle. The planet is famous for its high yield of hops and beers but so beautiful did it prove that in 453.M38 it was officially designated a Garden World. Here ancient Imperial adepts may retire, voluntarily or otherwise, and live out their last years in peace and tranquillity.

In order to do this the native ruling class was displaced, forced to watch as their manors and pastures were eclipsed by the brutal gothic architecture of Imperial Palaces. Some resentful souls still whisper of secession and rebellion but they are few in number and gain no support from the general populace. To the common folk there is little difference between one set of rulers and the other and so they go about their business, oblivious and uncaring for the schemes of the former nobility.

Angle's Rest:

The last planet discovered by Roderic Angle, this mining world contains vast deposits of base metals. This planet has no real value beyond this and is largely ignored by the Imperial authorities. Those adepts forced to deal with the planet's culture report it to be stupendously dreary, given to lengthy ritual greetings and complicated verbal exchanges that must be started again from scratch if an unwary off-worlder deviates in the slightest way. Most Adepts view assignment here as a punishment and it is commonly held that one must never accept an invite to any form of local entertainment, especially not their dramaturgical plays, which can take days to conclude.

Clom:

A mining world noted for its rich deposits of Adamantium. This world is highly value for its material wealth, yet was not discovered until M39. Laying at the very end of the Angle's run tributary the world is only accessible via a fluctuating and unstable warp passage, that is only open for a few months at the end of a ten year cycle. This world is not life sustaining and its inhabitant's live in great artificial caverns tunnelled into the bedrock where hydroponic gardens grow basic food for the mining families. This world is entirely dependent upon the great trade ships that come to collect their mineral wealth and control of this lifeline lays within a complex web of political alliances and feuds of a handful of dynastic families.

Clom itself bears geological evidence of once being life-bearing but somehow its entire biosphere was eradicated millions of years ago leaving a bare rock in space. Imperial scholars were baffled how such a thing could have occurred for they had never seen anything remotely like this. Until the coming of the Tyranids that is.

Veltri:

A mining world laying near to Angle's Redoubt, this planet lies under the threat of extinction. The planet sits in the projected path of a Tyranid Hive Fleet and as such many consider its days numbered. Despite every effort by Imperial authorities to deny that a threat exists the rich and powerful are fleeing in droves, buying passage on any ship that is departing. Tens of thousands have already fled but millions more are trapped. Projections are grim and the Administratum estimates that in the remaining time only a fraction of the population can possibly be evacuated before the Hive Minds engulfs the planet.


End file.
